Bahger

Thanks StrongHarm, I'm useless with the gun/PAC. Hopefully this will help!

Probably not, but no harm in asking...

Good to know, I don't think it's worth the hassle, esp. if it only works for certain users.

Thanks, EtherealN.

I'm wondering if someone could clarify before I go through lengthy trial-and-error to determine the following: I want to start the plaer on the ramp but, to simulate an "Alert" flight, have the engines and certain of the systems up and running. I then want the player to configure his specific weapons settings for the mission. If I hit "Prepare Mission" in the ME for this .miz, do an engine start, set radios and then save before taxiing out (possibly even with the radio dialog for "Request taxi to runway" on the screen, or is that too ambitious?), will the player's a/c be in this state every time he starts the mission? This might be an interesting, immersive thing to do to launch an "Alert" flight but if this aspect of the ME is inconsistent or temperamental I'd rather stick with either a full ramp start or a runway start. I'm trying to see if I can do something inbetween. Thanks!

I'm not criticising the AI here, it's sensible to jettison weapons when a SA-19 launches on you BUT, #2 has already rifled on the SAM launcher, which is seconds away from annihalation. For the rest of the mission -- which involves destroying armor with the bombs he jettisoned -- my wingman has to go to guns. Is there any way to address this? Maybe I should give him a Mav-only loadout, or get him to anchor while I hit the 2 SA-19s solo. I can evade a SAM launch without jettisoning ordinance; is there any way to persuade the AI to?

Yes, it is. Lua scripting is a mysterious art to me, but thanks to Druid, I now know enough about how it's implemented in this sim to be able to add tremendous replayability to my missions in the form of randomization. It's obvious from this thread that randomisation via script is a lot more versatile than via the ME interface.

Druid, I have implemented all of this successfully and it works beautifully in my mission. What's more, it's a very valuable tool for replayability in fututre missions. Please check your PMs and thanks very much indeed for your help and patience. I got it in the end.

This is great, Druid, thanks again. One more, probably dopey question: Does the ME allow any form of copying and pasting script texts? If not, do you input all of this code manually?? Everything is done in the ME, as opposed to DCS .lua files, right? OK, I'm being dense here, apologies. The obvious MO is to build my .miz around the unit/triggers you kindly supplied, adapting and changing unit compositions but leaving the scripts as is. And in building any future missions requiring this code, I'll just start with the template you supplied and rename it. Duh. Again, sorry for the beyond-noob questions and thanks for your patience. One I get it down, it'll stay down.

Thanks Druid, appreciate it.

So using this method, could I taxi the player Hog to where I want the player to start the mission -- let's say the ramp, but with the engines and systems running -- and, after escaping back to the ME, that's how the mission would start every time for the player, on the ramp, engines running?

This is great, Druid, many thanks. Bear with me but can you confirm where that .lua script goes? I downloaded "random task table lua.miz" from the thread you linked and looked at it in the ME but I do not know how to see how the scripting works. I read the thread carefully but I have no programming experience and do not know how to manipulate lua scripts, or how to copy/paste and/or where to put the one you kindly supplied above. I gather you can open .lua files in Notepad but would appreciate confirmation and some sort of guidance re. where I place the script above to make it work in my .miz. I apologise for asking you to step me through it but I'm a relatively quick study (for a logically-challenged person...) EDIT: OK, looking at that example, I see now that two lines of code to initialize a script have been placed in two triggers before the main sequence of randomization triggers in the ME. Still not sure where the script goes that is referenced in the two lines mentioned above. EDIT 2: I suspect I need to copy and paste the text above to a named .lua file in Notepad and then initialise it in the mission with a line of code, maybe the same ones as in the sample miz? I may be completely wrong about that, though.

Ah, ok, thanks Paulrkiii, hmmm...

I'm making a mission in which a CAS flight is "on call" on the ground. If the commander of the task force attacking a town nearby calls for CAS, the flight will "scramble". The airfield is within 50nm of the task force's location and the flight can be at the target within 7 minutes. I'm wondering: - Is this procedurally realistic? - If so, are there any phrases, protocols or radio procedures I should know to emphasize realism? In this instance, a runway start is not a lazy alternative to a cold, ramp start but an operational choice, as, with engines running and systems up, the flight is primed to be available to the ground commander pretty rapidly. I just need to find out as much as I can about how such an operation would play out IRL and what the modus operandi might be, thanks.

Zenra, ideally you should leave the SA-9s alone. They are no threat if your flight stays at or above Angels 20. If you use "Attack with..." and "Missiles", you will --usually -- keep your wingman above the SAM envelope. Also, when attacking those APCs, if you direct him to attack "Armor" he should go for the BTR rather than the air defenses, or you can go for the BTR and he can be ordered to "Attack utility vehicles" as the remainder of the convoy consists of trucks carrying troops, not APCs.

Is it possible to create, for example, five different placements of the same two groups of objects (armor and SAMs) and have the ME pick one placement of the three on the basis of, say, a 30% probability, every time the mission starts? I don't want to radically alter the location of both groups, just the dispositions, i.e. the formation of the vehicles. I'm sure it's possible but would appreciate the advice of ME experts, as my solution is bound to be jury-rigged and flawed. Thanks!

I'm not sure but I have a hunch that JTACs perform tasks in the order listed in the advanced waypoint menu, thus they can, I believe, be assigned multiple targets but cannot work them simultaneously. I have yet to test this but I suspect that once the first target has been destroyed, the JTAC will be available to frag the next one. I think...

Thanks so much for the encouraging response, Zenra. It's much appreciated, as mission-making is deceptively time consuming, it's probably about 100+ hours per .miz to get it right! Did you do the ramp start? It's a bit challenging in total darkness and the only available parking spot is a complex taxi to the runway. I don't know which targets you were assigned, but as I mentioned in the notes, it takes at least two playthroughs to be assigned all available targets. My next .miz is slightly simpler, I wanted to do A-10s in their "traditional" role, supporting a set-piece daytime assault by an armored task force on a town. I make missions partly to improve my own specific flying/fighting skills and this .miz will be the opposite of MR: low level, mixing it up with SA-19s, not for the faint of heart but very do-able. Thanks again, and post here if you have any questions or suggestions.

I'm not sure that persistent objects in the terrain are identifiable as targets by AI in the sim. In my experience -- I'd be happy to stand corrected -- you're better of selecting a user-placed object as the target. The inability to strike bridges -- without the workaround you mention -- is the most obvious deficiency of this system.

Mavericks work best when the boresight cross is pretty well aligned with the target but I was wondering if they can be fired, not off-boresight -- the gimbal tolerances seem limited -- but while flying an offfset course, having moved the seeker's boresight off the a/c's velocity vector. Can this be done?

Yeah, I'd be interested to know if these is a "trick" to positioning tanks hull-down, apart from educated guesswork based on contour lines.

The confusion here. if I recall correctly, is that the other flight is has the same callsign as the player's flight and are numbered 3 and 4 (I think), leading you to believe that they are second element of a 4-ship under the player's command.

I can't get them to respond to commands either. There is something very off-kilter about the buddy flights in this .miz, and has been since the early Betas.

This is great Wx, as always, and very cleanly laid out. Downloaded, printed, a keeper. Thanks!

Great! I thought about setting some challenging weather but after hours and hours of testing timings and triggers decided to push it out the door. Would you send me your amended versions? Only when they're ready, no hurry.